Will Florida's Famed Space Coast Forever Remain A Go For Launch?

SPECIAL REPORT - Facing our future in space

October 24, 1999|By Michael Cabbage of The Sentinel Staff

CAPE CANAVERAL - Oranges. Beaches. Rockets.

It's hard to think of three things more closely identified with Florida.

Thanks to Mother Nature, oranges and beaches will be around for awhile. But the future isn't so certain for rockets and the state's lucrative space business. What once seemed an exclusive franchise as the gateway to space is under siege.

A new generation of rockets could one day make spaceports almost as common as airports are today. But Cape Canaveral is suffering from old age, and competition for the booming satellite-launch business is growing stronger both at home and abroad.

``We're not frozen in the past, when you had to launch from Cape Canaveral,'' said Ed O'Connor, director of Spaceport Florida Authority, a state agency created to attract aerospace business. ``There are other options. And if we don't put our best foot forward, we could lose more and more of our industry.''

Many new reusable spaceships are being designed to reach orbit without jettisoning stages, then land like airplanes. They could be based almost anywhere.

That possibility has leaders in more than a dozen other states - including places such as Oklahoma, Idaho and Montana - talking about building sparkling, new spaceports to lure ships like Lockheed Martin's proposed VentureStar.

The Air Force-run launch site at Cape Canaveral hasn't sparkled since the 1960s. Its seaside location and closeness to the equator remain big pluses. But they're increasingly overshadowed by ancient equipment and subpar customer service.

Federal and state governments only recently have awakened to these problems. How they follow through in fixing them could determine whether the Cape remains America's prime gateway to space or becomes just another Orlando-area tourist attraction.

Meanwhile, the rest of the world isn't waiting for Florida to get its act together. And overseas competitors don't need a new generation of rockets. The international fight for launch business already is cutthroat using today's launch vehicles.

Right now, the United States manufactures more than 90 percent of the world's satellites. But Cape Canaveral Air Station and other U.S. sites now launch less than a third. With new spaceports popping up around the globe, America's share of the market could dwindle even more.

More than Florida's pride is on the line. The financial stakes are staggering. The launch industry contributes an estimated $4 billion to Florida's economy each year. Worldwide, more than $100 billion worth of satellites are expected to need a ride into orbit during the next decade.

A LITTLE LATITUDE

In all, 28 locations in 15 states are vying to become one of two launch and landing sites for VentureStar, the best-known of a half-dozen or so proposed next-generation spaceships. Contenders are spending millions of dollars to court the reusable single-stage launcher, despite the fact it may never be built.

Some of the states are considering building spaceports regardless of what happens. And 14 U.S. senators have lined up behind the Spaceport Investment Act, which would make bonds for those projects tax-exempt.

Still, many of the reasons that first brought rockets to Florida a half-century ago continue to favor the state. That's the good news for the Cape as it battles potential U.S. rivals.

Florida's first big advantage is its latitude.

Many satellites fly 22,300 miles above the Earth's equator, orbiting in sync with our planet's rotation to keep in touch with ground stations below. The closer to the equator these satellites are launched, the less fuel - and the less money - it takes to put them into orbit.

In addition to latitude, the Cape's coastal address gives it an edge.

Satellites typically circle either Earth's poles or equator. Rockets can safely launch east from the Cape over open water to go into orbit around the equator.

In theory, new launch systems may be designed to take off and land anywhere. But in practice, new rockets often fail. And even the most futuristic reusable vehicles still will be loaded with volatile fuel.

That means manufacturers and insurance companies likely will continue to insist on flights over the ocean, at least for now. And that favors Florida and the Air Force's polar launch site at California's Vandenberg Air Force Base, America's second-busiest spaceport.

``Any launch that does not fly over populated areas is inherently safer,'' said Patricia Grace Smith, the Federal Aviation Administration's associate administrator for commercial space transportation.

Prior to every launch, the FAA is required by federal law to estimate how much damage an accident might cause. Launch companies must have insurance or enough assets to cover that amount. Right now, insurance for launching along the coast is relatively cheap.

However, in places such as Oklahoma - one of seven landlocked states competing for launch business - insurance companies might get nervous about flying over rural areas, not to mention major cities.